Something Human
by lizzytish-lover of everything8
Summary: When Elena and Damon took the cure after Alaric and Jo's wedding they were prepared to leave Mystic Falls and never come back. After starting a new life and having a few kids, the universe seems to think its time for them to be reunited with their family. Follow the story of Rachel, Aria, Tara, and Peter as they adjust from having no family to having too much.
1. Prologue

The Prologue to a New Chapter

Elena didn't expect her life to be this way.

At 16 she would have bet money that she would marry Matt and spend the rest of her life being a stay-at-home mom living in little Mystic Falls, growing old together with their friends around them.

When her parents died and she drifted away from Matt everything changed. No longer was her future set in stone. It was cloudy and uncertain and definitely didn't involve sitting on a porch with Matt and grandchildren at their feet. Well, at least it didn't seem like that at the time.

Her fate changed again when she met Stefan. Suddenly she could see her getting out of that sad little town with all the bad memories of the summer before. She could see herself being a journalist and having a few kids. Staying in touch in with Bonnie and Caroline, but not best friends anymore. No Damon to wreck it. The process would be hard but it would happen.

It fell apart when she learned about vampires. She still loved Stefan and she didn't want to lose him, but the vision of their future was gone as long as she loved him. They chose not to think about that, they had much more pressing matters.

Then her feelings for Damon started to change. And Stefan went missing. And Jeremy and Caroline were involved in the mess now. She almost died a few times, actually succeeding once. She lost another set of parents and an aunt. Klaus, Elijah, and Rebekah brought on new dangers and unlikely allies against Esther. Things changed once again and this time she wasn't sure she was going to live it see the future at all.

When she became a vampire she knew there was no hope for the future she had wanted at the beginning. She just wasn't going to have the suburban house or the small but quaint apartment with kids and grandkids. Elena accepted that that wasn't what the universe had in store for her. She could deal with that, but she couldn't handle vampirism, it wasn't for her. Shutting off her humanity was the hardest thing she had ever done, turning it back on was worse, learning to live with it was the worst.

Loving Damon changed that. He helped her see the not so bad part or being a vampire. Yes, it hurt her to see Stefan alone and it was torture when she and Damon fought or when he died, but she would live with that to get the good parts of her relationship with him. He was the light at the end of the tunnel. An eternity with him didn't sound so bad. Sure they wouldn't have any kids or grow old together, but they would be happy.

But…why is there always a "but"? When faced with the decision of staying in this hellish form or getting back the hope of a future again she couldn't say no to the latter. She wanted Damon to be with her, but he not just because of her. He made his decision all on his own and was okay with doing it for her. They were okay with never seeing their families again…'okay', not good.

Driving away from Mystic Falls for what should be the last time was surprisingly bittersweet. The memories of the bad things that had happened there were as present in her mind as the good. She would miss the little things, the feeling of Stefan's protective hug, the goodness of Bonnie's heart, the playful kindness of Caroline's smile, even the teasing of Matt and Tyler. She would miss the hopefulness in Stefan's eyes whenever he gazed at Caroline when he thought nobody was looking. She wouldn't forget the stunning love Jo and Alaric had. She would miss Damon and Alaric's friendship, as well as his unlikely one with Bonnie. The brotherly love Damon and Stefan had for each other. The support Matt provided for the group. Caroline's obsessive nature and Bonnie warm-hearted wisdom that had kept her out of trouble since she was very little. Jeremy would never see her again if all went well. They didn't even get to say goodbye. Lily was their problem. Keeping Bonnie off the crazy train was Matt's job. Reminding Caroline of her strength would fall to Stefan.

She would miss the things to come, as well, even though they haven't happened yet. The birth of Jo and Alaric's twins (although no one was supposed to know that fact), and the development of Stefan and Caroline's impending relationship. She would grow old and die while they didn't. She wanted to know more about Tyler and Liv and she wanted to find someone for Matt to love. There was so much to lose, but also so much to gain.

For the first time in years her life had a direct course. She had a plan and a future in mind. Damon would do anything for her. He sat next to her in the passenger's seat (he was still getting used to the human eyes so he opted out of driving) gazing out at the world, for the first time in a century and a half seeing it as most others did, filled with possibilities. When he glanced over at her she knew he was thinking the same thing as her. His eyes were filled with sadness, but for the first time ever there was something more.

 _Something human._

 **So this is under the impression that Kai didn't crash the wedding (quite literally) and everything went according to plan with the whole cure thing. Damon took it, they said their goodbyes, and set off for a new life. This story will not follow their adjustment to humanity, other than the occasional flashback, but what happens when fate seems to want to push the gang back together in some conspicuous and some rather obvious ways. Hope you like it! Reviews are totally welcome. Constructive criticism is awesome! But avoiding the hate would be awesome though!**

 **Thanks for taking a look at this this!**

 **Sincerely,**

 **Lizzy**


	2. Normal

**Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Diaries**

Aria had never been to the little town she hobbled into one full moon in October. Mystic Falls was foreign to her. The names Salvatore and Gilbert meant nothing to her. Her life was the epitome of normal. A slightly self-centered older sister, a nerdy younger one, and a hyper little brother, with two great parents that always seemed to be the most in love you could be, made up her totally average life.

Now she was a college student walking down the highway after crashing her car into a tree, that didn't exactly seem weird. No, don't worry; nothing was strange about this perfectly safe small town that just appeared out of nowhere. There was hundreds of the same kind all over the country. She was great, a student at Whitmore College where everything was great, this totally convenient town that was great, the sounds in the woods next to her were great. There wasn't anything strange about this small town in the middle of nowhere.

What did the sign say? Mystic Falls? Quaint. Quiet. A grandparent's town that had just come out of its prime. Nice trees. Oh, look, a squirrel.

Finally, a store. The Mystic Grill. Food! A mechanic. A phone, as hers was dead. Best day ever.

She pulled her hood up as it started to rain. A man walked by with his arm through a women's. They were laughing. Normal on a Saturday night.

Just a touch. One touch. Her arm brushed up against the guy's. She was about to apologize as he reached for the door.

Pain. Searing pain.

Nothingness.

Until.

The woods.

A group of people.

Mom?

Dad?

He looks kind of like Peter.

Why are they crying?

And.

Nothing.

"Oh God!" Tyler shouted followed by a string of curses that shouldn't have followed 'god'.

The girl had just fainted. He hadn't done anything. Had he?

"Liv, get Matt." He said urgently to his girlfriend. She nodded and rushed into the Grill where Matt, now a cop, was meeting them for dinner.

Tyler knelt and gingerly set him hand on her neck. She buckled, still unconscious. Could it be a broken neck? No, that was not possible. On her neck where he had just stroked a burn was fading. That definitely wasn't there before.

"Liv!" He yelled. When he tried again the same thing happened. Each time he touched her, even briefly, a burn resulted. None of them lasted longer them a few seconds but it still unnerved him. His mind immediately jumped to the worst possible option, but admittedly the most likely.

She was something supernatural.

Liv ran in at Tyler's command. "Matt!" She yelled at him. "Outside…girl…fainted." She panted. One would think that an ex-Gemini witch would have more of a stomach for these things but over the past 20+ years Mystic Falls had actually been pretty quiet. Lily was now rotting in the old vampire tomb under the church and Kai was still trapped in the 1903 prison world. Alaric and her sister had packed up just before she had the kids and far away…well they were a minute ago.

Now her older sister and her husband were sitting at a table talking amiably with someone that looked like Jeremy Gilbert.

"Wow, uh…hi." Liv said, standing up to look at them.

Jo smiled at her. "Hey, Liv, long time."

"I'll say. Why are here?" She continued to talk as they each embraced each other.

Alaric looked at Jeremy. "It just sort of happened. We just felt like we needed to come home." He lowered his voice. "Stefan and Caroline are here too, at the boarding house. Bonnie said she's on her way."

Liv's eyes widened. "Do you think something's starting?"

Jeremy's head shot up. "I hope not, I can't believe I'm saying this," he sighed, "But we've never faced something without Damon or Elena. I don't really know what to do. Damon's usually the first one who realizes something's up."

Jo shook her head. "We can deal with it on our own, whatever it is."

"Hey, what about the kid?" Liv asked.

Alaric and Jo's faces lit up like Christmas trees. Jeremy rolled his eyes, "Now you've got them started."

Matt cradled her head in his palm. She was pretty enough, had kind of the European look Elena had had. The girl was college aged with dark brown hair that curled around her checks but was tangled and ratty now. Her face was dripping with sweat and she had a few cuts on her arms and legs but nothing serious.

"What happened?" he asked urgently as he reached up to check her pulse.

Tyler looked incredulous. "Nothing! I mean we brushed up together and she collapsed. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she just fell."

"Jo!" Matt called, still looked at the girl, checking all the pressure point he knew.

Tyler glanced around as Jo and Alaric came out. "Why the hell are you here?"

Jo barely spared him a look as she set to work on the girl. She didn't get far though. The moment there skin touched the girl shrieked. The doctor recoiled staring at her hand. "I-I didn't…" she sputtered as the mystery patient flattened again.

"Okay, I'm no doctor, but I'm pretty sure that's not supposed to happen." Jeremy said.

"Tyler, call 911." Jo instructed. "Matt, get some water." A crowd had started to gather. "She's fine, just a little bump on the head." She yelled to the crowd.

Alaric knelt next to her. "I'm assuming it isn't just a bump on the head."

She shook her head. "Whatever it is, it's internal."

He glance around. "Should I get that super secret vile you have stashed in her purse?"

She glared at him. "It's not that serious. And its only for emergencies." When he started to open his mouth she continued, " _Family_ emergencies."

The entire hospital was in a flurry. Mystic Falls had been calm for a few years. The worst things that had happened were a small house fire in the country and a car crash in the town square. But a mystery girl with surprise internal injuries collapsing outside of the Grill complicates things.

She was immediately rushed in the ER, sent through surgery, but her injuries were too severe.

"Alaric!" said Meredith Fell who had moved back a few years prior. "She's not relapsing."

'Ric and Jo exchanged worried looks. When they didn't respond she fired quickly back at them. "The internal bleeding is too much. She has a concussion and a hair line fracture on the hip." Meredith said, leading them over to the x-ray. "I'm worried at if there isn't some miracle she's going to die." The stressing of the word miracle told Alaric that he was right. She was asking for some vampire blood.

At the look on 'Ric's face she added. "I'm not asking for some. I have a little left over from the stock I took from Damon and Stefan years ago. And I don't need your permission. But I want a second opinion. You're a doctor, Jo, right? Can you just take a look? I've been saving those samples for something very big."

Jo sighed. "Under some circumstances she should be fine, but we don't know her medical history, we don't even know her name." She tilted her head back, "I can't believe I'm saying this…under any other I wouldn't…but we don't even know who she is…and—the other bit…If you think its necessary I trust your judgment, Meredith."

The other women nodded and took the bottle from her pocket. "It's old but it should have the same effect."

But the moment she dripped it into her mouth, the girl started throwing up violently. Then she flat lined. The room was in a mad rush. The doors were closed, blocking everyone's view from the girl.

"What happened?" Tyler asked, having come from giving his statement to the police.

"She rejected the blood." Alaric responded, still trying to figure out was on earth was going on.

"That's impossible…isn't it?" Liv inquired glancing around at the circle of incredulous faces.

Jeremy's brow furrowed. "Not _impossible_ , exactly. Just unheard of. I've learned never that, but come on, hybrids: impossible, cure for being a vampire: impossible, heck even coming back from the death used to be impossible until we did it…a number of times." He shook his head. "I don't think we should count this as impossible just yet."

 **Yes, Aria is Damon and Elena's daughter. Yes, there will be more about her. Yes, there will be a reunion. Don't worry. Everything will be explained.**


	3. The Mystery Girl

"Hey Tyler," Caroline said when he came into the Salvatore Boarding House after dropping the girl off at the hospital. She was sitting on the couch, her feet on Stefan's lap and it appears that he had been reading to her. He used to think the most mushy-gushyness would ever be Damon and Elena, boy was he wrong. Tyler was certainly happy for his former love, but must they be hanging on each other _all the time_.

"Alaric called us about the girl. What happened?" Stefan asked.

Tyler shook his head in disbelief. "She collapsed when she touched me. I swear I have never seen her in my life. But the way she looked at me before she fell…well let's just say it was like she was seeing a ghost."

Caroline and Stefan looked at each other. "Did she say anything?" Stefan asked.

Tyler plopped down on a chair. "There's one thing, the way Matt looked at her. It was like he couldn't place her. And I'm not kidding, she's hot." He grinned but soon found his composure at Caroline's glare. "But it wasn't like that." He sighed. "I don't know, maybe it was just a feeling."

Caroline thought for a moment. "Where is she now?"

"Basically comatose. The surgery was hard on her."

Stefan furrowed his brow in a very Stefan manner, "You didn't try vampire blood on her?"

"We did, it didn't work."

He rose. "And she seemed surprised?"

Tyler looked back and forth between the pair. "Yeah, why."

"Maybe she was cured." Caroline had caught up to Stefan's reasoning. "Maybe she knows Damon and Elena."

Even though they hoped that the pair was getting a happy ending they didn't know. Everyone missed them, especially Stefan and Caroline.

Tyler recoiled, "It-it wasn't like that. I don't think we should assume it. Sorry." He shrugged. They visibly deflated. "Matt's going to talk to her when she wakes up."

"I know this is crazy but I would like to as well." Caroline said and Stefan nodded.

"Whatever, I'm not responsible for her anymore. Ask Matt or something." He walked away.

Caroline muttered irritably to her boyfriend. "Flake."

…

Matt got a call two days later about the girl being awake after the operation. When he walked into the dingy little recovery room she was sitting up in bed, her phone that was plugged into the wall in her hand. But she was staring absentmindedly out the window.

"Uh…hi." Matt said. Her head whipped around. "I'm the police officer assigned to your case." He stuck out his hand. "Officer Donovan. And you are…?"

She looked slightly distraught. The girl kept looking at his face with a confused expression."Uh, Aria." She gingerly took his hand. "Aria Flemming." Aria shook her head and smiled weakly. "I'm sorry, you look really familiar. Have you ever been to Boston?"

"No I can't say I have." After a second thought he said. "You do look really familiar though. Do you maybe have family from around here?"

She glanced at the window. "No, but I do go to college at Whitmore." He sucked in a breath. Aria obviously noticed his falter but didn't react to it.

He chuckled awkwardly, "Anyway, we're getting off topic. Can you tell me how you ended up fainting in the center of town?"

"I crashed my car." Aria responded, a little too quickly for Matt's senses. "I had been driving for a while and I think some kind of animal ran out in front of me. I got out and walked to the nearest place. I thought I was fine." She looked down sheepishly at the bandages surrounding her torso. "I guess I don't have that good intuition."

He smiled as sincere as he could. "That's fine. Is there any specific reason why you were out last evening?"

Aria's eyes widened. "If you're asking if I was drunk—"

"I wasn't."

"I was driving a friend to the airport and got lost and I—"

"That's alright."

"I'm sure." She finished.

He looked down at the clipboard that he had been scribbling away at. "Well I think that's everything." _Everything legal_ he thought.

"Hold on sec'" Aria said as he turned to leave. "Could you have someone go get my stuff from my car and bring it here. Normally I wouldn't being so insistent, but I have this family heirloom and—"

"I understand." He forced a smile again. "If that's everything. But feel free to ask nurse or someone if you need me again or remember something more. We are just trying to get a good look at the situation. It's not every day someone collapses at the Grill." He laughed.

There was a beep from her phone. "Looks like the battery is up."

Matt nodded. "Are you going to call your parents? Just so you know you can't leave for a while."

Aria looked out the window again. "I know. Wha-what was this town called again?"

Matt continued to stare at her, she bear an uncanny resemblance to—"Mystic Falls." He snapped out of his stupor. "Welcome to our little town, Miss. Flemming, Mystic Falls."

She turned as he left the room, waiting for him to out of ear shot. She tentatively took her hand and dialed her mother's number. "Mom?"

"Aria! Where on earth have you been? Are you alright honey?" She grinned sadly at her mom's anxious voice. Familiar, but painful."

"I'm fine, mom. I'm okay."

"When you didn't call yesterday, we were so worried! We were so close to calling the school. Or coming down there ourselves." Her voice had turned angry. She was more mad than worried now.

Aria took a deep breath. "I got in an accident, mom—"

"What?" she squeaked.

"But I'm okay now. Just some scratches, but they think I might have a—" She hesitated for a half a second to figure out a believable lie that wouldn't worry her mom too much. "Concussion."

"Oh sweetheart. Do you want us to come down there, we can be there in just few hours."

She shook her head. "No, I'm great, I swear." Aria paused. "Can I talk to dad?"

Elena sighed, "Yeah, here he is." There was a little muttering on the other side, before Damon's voice filled the line. "'Ria?"

"Daddy? Is mom walking away?" Her voice was deathly calm.

"Yes," his voice was filled with concern and confusion, "Kid, what's going on?"

In an instant her breathing changed into short, terrified gasps. "I'm really scared, Daddy."

"'Ria, calm down, kiddo. Tell me what happened." Damon's voice was soothing in the way he had perfected since he was young. If he was still a vampire he would have used that tone coupled with compulsion, but that was gone, all those bridges had been burned.

"I-I was on my way back from Richmond and I got a little bit lost. Wh-when this hu-huge and I mean _big,_ wolf like thing ran in front of me." Her voice was strained. Damon had never heard his daughter so distressed. "And I crashed into a tree. Daddy—" she hadn't called him 'daddy' this much since she was 8. "That wolf was way too big!"

 _But no, it couldn't be._ Damon thought. His face was changing as Aria described the attacks.

"It was gone when I got out. I walked into town and just when I was going to get some help I collapsed. They said it was internal bleeding—"

"Wait." Damon stopped her, "I thought you told mom you have a concussion."

"I didn't want to worry her." Aria admitted.

He sighed, "Sometimes I think you are too much like her for your own good. But go on, 'Ria, I'm listening."

"They said it was internal bleeding from the crash, but I know what that feels like, and I was disoriented but not like that. And I collapsed when I bumped into this guy." She had tears streaming down her face.

"What?" Damon's voice was terribly weak, like he was the one experiencing it. "You have to tell me something. Did he had black hair and a hint of a poorly grown mustache?"

"Well, yes. But dad—"

"And a cunning and weasily look on his face?"

"No, he actually looked as surprised as me. But that wasn't everything."

"Wait honey—"

"No! Daddy! Please listen to me."

"But—"

"I saw something!" She blurted out.

"What?" Damon's voice cracked.

"When I touched him I saw something. You are going to think I am crazy but it was like a town. He was standing around a tree stump with a bunch of other people. They were all crying. The stump…it looked like a memorial of some kind. You-you and mom were there. You looked so sad. I have never seen you so sad, daddy. But you were younger, much younger. There was someone at looked similar to Petey. If that wasn't terrifying enough when I woke up I saw one of them here. He was a cop, but he was so young in the vision. I said he looked familiar and he said I looked familiar. Oh, daddy! Who were they?" She sobbed, her voice breaking at every other word.

For a moment no one spoke.

And another.

And another.

"This is incredibly important, Aria Bonnie. What town are you in?" Damon's voice was tense and as scared as hers.

"Mystic Falls."

 _No, no this isn't happening._ He thought.

"Dad, what's going on?"

Damon looked at Elena who was at the table reading in their house, the perfect life was going to be changed so quickly, but they needed to be there for their family, now.

"Stay where you are."

"Well, there goes my plan for starting a traveling circus."

"Don't talk to anyone."

"What? What's going on?"

"Just be careful, okay 'Ria?"

Aria glanced at the hall with all the nurses walking past with innocent patients. "Please tell me, daddy."

He sighed, his face contorted, "We'll explain when we get there."

Her eyebrows raised, "You're coming here?"

"Yes."

"But you're going to have to tell mom."

"Yeah."

"Dad."

"Yeah, kid?"

"Come quickly."

 **WOOOOHOOOO! Thank you so much for all the reviews and follows and favorites. I am pleasantly surprised by the feedback. Thank you so much! I have been trying to understand and predict what the heck is happening next in VD. I know that Elena isn't coming back anytime soon because Nina is done for now, but I love that they left the door open for her to come back. They are going to have to be careful not to kill Bonnie again.**

 **Reviews, as always, are encouraged as well as thoughts on season 7.**


	4. Family Ties

**Disclaimer: Why would I be writing fanfiction and sleeping a crappy mattress if I owned Vampire Diaries or CW?**

There was a knock on the door of the boarding house, Matt opening it for Bonnie Bennet, a smile on her face that dropped quickly when she saw the look on his face. "Who's dead?"

"Nothing we can't handle." He said as he hugged her. "But I'm glad you're here Bon."

"What happened? Is it Lily?" Her eyes darkened. "Is it Kai?"

He shook his head quickly.

Caroline grinned, "Hey Bonnie!"

"Hey guys. Now what the hell am I supposed to fight?"

"Nothing yet, it might not be even a problem." Alaric reassured her.

"Ha." Jeremy laughed bitterly in Bonnie's ear as they embraced, "When has it ever not been a problem?"

Their conversation was interrupted by shouts of joy from outside the house. "You totally just lost, Ams."

A girl laughed, "You wish, Jay!"

Everyone in the group of reunited old friends zeroed in on Alaric and Jo.

"I thought you said they weren't coming?" Matt asked.

"Apparently we were wrong." Alaric looked at Jo, but she shrugged. The parents went out to greet their children.

"Everyone, this is Amelia and Jason. Amelia and Jason, this is everyone."

"Uh hi," Amelia had her father's dark blonde hair and her mother's light in her eyes. She was well built and had a kind look about her. Jason on the other hand had darker hair and looked more like his mother; well he looked like a Gemini witch. Just by looking at them you could tell that their parents had raised them the same way they had guided Elena and Jeremy. They were handsome and beautiful but didn't exactly seem suited for the type of stuff their parents had been in.

Jason, even at 24 still looked at Caroline and Stefan with some genuine amazement. "You guys are really vampires?" he said incredulously.

Both Caroline and Stefan looked at Alaric and Jo. They smiled sheepishly.

"But how are you in the sun." While Jason seemed like he coveted them Amelia looked at them were specimen in a Petri dish. She then turned her attention to Tyler, who by the way didn't look his age, and grinned. "You're cute."

"Amelia!" Jo scolded but you could see she was fighting a smile.

Tyler looked shocked and slightly happy. Liv swatted his arm and glared at him.

"Still have your eternal charm I see." Caroline rolled her eyes and shrugged.

Jeremy groaned. "Can we get back to the girl?"

"Geez, missed you too Jer." Bonnie quipped and gave him an armed hug, and for a minute the world was in balance. In a second Damon and Elena would come in greet them with sunshine and rainbows, well at least Elena, Damon would greet them with semi-offensive nicknames and sarcastic comments.

They all sighed before reality took over. "What's up with this girl?" Bonnie broke the pleasurable silence.

"Who?" Amelia asked innocently. They all could all tell that the twins were going to take some getting used to.

Tyler relayed the story to the newcomers. The twins looked horrified. "You fed her your blood?" Jason asked. "That can't be a feasible medical solution, can it?"

Jo sighed, having dreaded this conversation for some time. Jo and Alaric kept no secrets from their kids. They knew about their witch heritage, they knew about their vampire back stories, they knew about their namesakes, Amelia Elena and Jason Damon, they even knew about the twin ritual that they parents had run from. They had never seen a vampire in the flesh, thanks to their parents careful planning, but they considered themselves much better with common sense than their parents, as most twenty-something year olds felt. Jason had gone into medicine like his mother and Jo and Alaric had guessed he would be very judgmental of his mother's earlier presiding with…ahhh…alternative methods.

"It works well in most cases." Jo defended. Caroline looked down sadly. Stefan placed his hand on hers.

"Maybe it didn't work because it was old?" Jeremy guessed.

Stefan shook his head. "While I've never heard of vampire blood being kept that long, it's not that type of thing."

"Do we know anything?" Jo asked.

"Aria Flemming, born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, happy, stable home, probably some siblings, maybe a little bit jumpy but she just had a car accident and woke up in strange town so I'm not surprised, but other than that nothing that would scream psychopath." Matt debriefed them.

Alaric thought for a moment. "Flemming? That was my crazy ex-wife's last name that just so happened to be Elena's mom."

Jason and Amelia stared at him. He reddened. "Did we not mention that bit?"

Tyler scoffed, "That's hardly anything. I say we keep her here until we know more."

"We can't just hold her against her will. I bet you anything she's a normal kid and you guys are overreacting." Caroline rolled her eyes. "So what if she has a super sensitivity to the _supernatural_." She stressed the word dramatically, earning an adoring laughed from Stefan and a sentimental grin from Bonnie.

"We do have a way to gage her though. Her parents insisted on coming to pick her up. We meet them and then regroup." Matt suggested, an idea everyone agreed on.

...

 _Damon hobbled in after a long day at work. He still had the bar below their apartment, a place he loved almost as much as he loved his wife._

 _His wife…formerly girlfriend…formerly brother's girlfriend. Elena and he had tied the knot not too long ago, just a few months after they had left Mystic Falls. He thought of his home often, his younger brother, his friends that had become almost family. The memories of their smiling faces grazed his mind regularly. Whether it be the day drinkers that came in after a break up to remind him of Alaric and even Jenna, or the happy couple on a date to remind him of Caroline and Stefan as he hoped they were still going strong._

 _He flipped the switch on the wall and was greeted by a sight. Elena was standing tall, in her favorite purple dress, similar to the one she had worn at the wedding, her hair pulled up in a bun, and a table set for two._

 _He was pleasantly surprised to find her so put together. She had been pulling long shifts at the hospital as he had at the bar, almost crossing paths with Stefan's hellish future hallucinations. But there she was, smiling proudly, a glint in her eye that he hadn't seen in a long time._

 _"_ _Hey." She smirked._

 _"_ _Hi." She took his hand and led him to a seat across from hers and sat down and herself._

 _"_ _What's this all about?" He asked. "Not that I'm complaining."_

 _"_ _Oh, nothing." She was still smiled widely._

 _He reached hesitantly for the bottle of wine. "You haven't gotten sick of me and are trying to poison me, are you?"_

 _She laughed, the kind of laugh that made him want to sing. "Not yet."_

 _"_ _Then what's up?" He asked again, trying not to get scared. When he was about to pour wine into her glass, her hand stopped his._

 _"_ _I'm not allowed to have alcohol, now." She grinned._

 _His eyes widened. "What happened, are you okay?"_

 _She giggled, obviously having fun playing this game with him. "How old were you when your mom had Stefan?"_

 _He sat back. "Three, maybe four for some of it. I barely remember it though. Why?"_

 _"_ _Oh, no reason, just wondering how you are with pregnant women."_

 _The realization dawned on him. "Wait—you aren't?"_

 _She beamed and nodded._

 _He stood. "Really!?"_

 _Elena laughed. "Yes!"_

 _His face gradually came down from the look of utter joy and happiness as he sat back down._

 _Elena looked terrified. "Do you—do you not want this?" Her voice hardened. "'Cause if not I can totally do this on my own. If you don't want your baby, than that's fine—"_

 _With speed rivaling his time as a vampire he cut her off with a kiss. "No, no, don't get me wrong I want this with you more than anything, I just…"_

 _Her face softened. "Just what?"_

 _He sighed and took her face in his hand. "I didn't have that much of a role model in the dad department. The few fathers I know weren't that great to their kids, my own dad killed me."_

 _He said that so nonchalantly that she had to laugh. "Damon." She took his hand from her face and brought it to her stomach. "This is our little miracle. Look at me in the eye and tell me that you don't want to be our little angel's father and then I'll believe you aren't going to be one." He looked away. "Hey, I love you, and I love our baby, and I know, as well as I know my own name, that you are going to be the best father in the world."_

 _Their lips met in the most passionate and loving kiss, if it was possible, of their lives. "Oh, Elena." He picked her up and spun her. She laughed as he set her down. "I love you and I love our baby and I am never leaving you."_

 _They smiled at each other and held each for a long time. And for the first time in forever, Damon didn't have a single thought of their lives before now. Stefan and Alaric and all the others were their past, this little angel was their future._

"What are you thinking about?" Elena asked from the passenger's seat. She had a pillow on her lap and he had thought she was staring at the window but apparently she had been staring at him.

"Nothing." He responded, his mind still drifting to the night had found out she was pregnant.

 _They lay in bed after a night of celebrating. Elena was fast asleep, her head on his shoulder, breathing softly. He wondered in the back of mind if this was the future Stefan had imagined for him and Elena. In a world where they could have been happy with a family and a house with a lawn and a garage and everything Stefan had thought Elena wanted._

 _Damon thought of Alaric and what his reaction to the news about the Salvatore baby would have been. He could imagine that his best friend would be overjoyed and slightly cautious. He would warn the couple of the strain that having baby would put on their relationship. He would refuse the option Elena would have given him as honorary grandpa, but accept the role of uncle._

 _Bonnie would smile at them and wonder to herself if she would ever get that. Then look at Jeremy and wonder if he was thinking the same thing. She would fit right into the role of the insightful aunt, the one with all the "life experience" and "wisdom"._

 _Caroline would shriek with joy and start planning the baby shower, the first birthday, and even the baby's wedding. She would spoil this baby like it was her own, because, Damon knew, not being able to have a baby was the only thing she missed about being a human._

 _Matt would drag Damon out into the yard, yell at him for a solid 5 minutes about never, ever abandoning Elena or his future niece or nephew. Then he and Tyler would congratulate them and tease Damon about "the domestic life"._

 _Jeremy would be so happy for his sister and would think that if anyone deserved this it was them. He would call the position of fun uncle that let his niece of nephew do anything whatsoever. He would think about training them to be able to defend themselves and would cherish the little moments he had with the kid, teaching them how to draw and sketch. And when no one was looking he would cry about his childhood and how if there was one thing he was certain about he would not let this kid go off the deep end._

 _Stefan would put on the brave face. He would have congratulated them and they would have known he was genuine but knew that part of him wished it was him that was the father. He wished it was Damon that was an eternal teenager and Stefan got to be the husband, be the father, and grow old with Elena by his side. He would love his niece of nephew like they were his life, because if there was anything he wanted above his happiness it was Damon and Elena's._

 _Damon sat in bed thinking about this. How, if this kid was raised in Mystic Falls, sure it would be terribly dangerous but it would be home. She (he hoped it was a mini-Elena) would have a multitude of adoring family waiting on her hand and foot._

 _He knew that he loved his daughter more than anything, perhaps more even than Elena._

Damon hadn't even noticed his cheeks had gotten wet until Elena mentioned it. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good, I'm good." Damon reassured her, not even convincing himself.

She reached for his hand that was clenched so tight the knuckles were white. "Getting it all out now." She joked as genuinely as she could.

"It's horrible and amazing," he sighed, "How I could go so long without thinking about them, and by extension, missing them, and then it just comes flooding back in."

She nodded. She had gotten over the pain of losing her family a while ago. She knew that everyone's lives were happier, but know they were bringing their kids into his life.

"Mom, dad? Who are we talking about?"

They jumped. "Honey, I thought you were asleep."

Damon and Elena had dragged their two youngest along for the ride not willing to leave them alone for a long period of time. Tara, the youngest girl, might seem docile and quiet, but man, could she throw a party. And their 15 year old son, Peter, was way to young to deal with that.

"I can't sleep, I'm worried about Ria." Peter mumbled sleepily. He was the baby of the family and definitely had a different look on this as the others did. All of their little hell-beasts were amazingly different.

Rachel, the oldest, was snarky and sarcastic. She tended to show the worst versions of her parents to everyone except them. Rachel was already 22 and was going for a degree in medicine at Duke. She knew when she was getting into trouble and let it happen. Her parents blamed it on her youth but genetics definitely played a part. They had sent her ahead to Mystic Falls because she was closer but weren't exactly reassured that that would do more good than harm.

Aria was daddy's little girl even though she was the middle child. She always managed to get her father's attention and trusted him above all others. She was far more reckless than the others. But also had a quiet thoughtfulness and was incredibly brilliant. She was 19 and completely undetermined in all ways.

Tara was quieter than anyone in their family. She came across as innocent and defenseless, but her parents and older sisters learned early on her silence was all the better to plan attacks with. She was surprisingly cunning and tended to be the mastermind of her sister's pranks. Tara was also a perfectionist and had a strange fascination with cars. Out of all their children she acted the most like Stefan. She was almost 18 and already had her life planned out. She loved to write and read but would never let anyone ever see her work. Says, you can read when it's a best-seller.

Peter was the youngest and the only boy. He was his father's desperate attempt to get out of the wallowing pit of girls his wife had put him in. He was 15 and never stopped talking. He seemed convinced that he would find his true love in high school (cue the million jokes Damon told Elena about them moving to Mystic Falls because it seems to only happen there) and had dated every girl in the student body who had gotten tired of his pestering and relented to go on a date with him. He oddly resembled both Stefan, and strangely enough, Jeremy more than he did his parents.

"She's fine, Petey. We're just worried about her and haven't seen her in a while." Elena explained patiently.

"Then who are you talking about?" Tara asked groggily.

Damon and Elena exchanged looks. Damon's grip on the steering wheel tightened. "Our old friends used to live in Mystic Falls, we were just thinking about them." Okay, not too far off the truth.

"Is it Josette, Bonnie, Caroline, Stefan, and Alaric?" Tara asked innocently.

Damon almost crashed the car. "Where on earth did you hear those names?"

"Uhh…those are our middle names. Rachel Josette, Aria Bonnie, Tara Caroline, and Peter Stefan Alaric." Peter supplied, looking confused.

Elena sighed. "What makes you think that, Tar?"

"A number of reasons actually," she took a deep breath like she had been preparing for this her whole life. "A lot of people name their kids after family or friends. And while Rachel, Aria, Tara, and Peter don't sound that weird together, Josette, Bonnie, Caroline, Stefan, and Alaric just don't seem to fit together, which leads me to believe that we are named after people very close to guys. They all come from different cultures and places. Another contributing factor is that Peter has two middle names. Generally when a family has one child with two middle names, all of the children have two middle names. It's almost as if you ran out of kids." Elena and Damon grinned sheepishly at each other. "So that lead me to believe that once upon a time you guys had friends are weren't on the TPA." Peter laughed at that but his parents didn't.

"She gets it from you." Damon said to his wife.

Elena rolled her eyes, same old Damon under there somewhere.

"Okay, so yes. Those are the friends we were talking about." Damon relented.

"Did you have a falling out, or something?" Peter asked.

"Uhhh…" Damon looked to Elena for help.

"No, we just grew apart." Elena said thoughtfully.

"Well you must have cared enough to name us after them, but not enough to give us their names as our first names." Peter said, not meaning to be rude, just curious.

Elena looked down. They had wanted to give them their family's first names but held off for their own protection.

Damon smiled sadly. "They all helped your mother and I through a very tough time when we were younger. We wanted to honor them, at least a little bit."

The car was silently for a few minutes before Tara spoke up again. "It's such a coincidence that the place where Aria crashes just so happens to have so much history with our family."

Elena sighed, "Yeah." If only that's what it was.

 **Someone asked for Damon and Elena's early years as parents and here you go. A lot of the rest of the story will involved flashbacks through Damon and Elena telling stories to everyone in Mystic Falls. How did you like Jason and Amelia? I know they were a bit much, but I'm still working on perfectly their character arcs in my head. I like to think of them as Jo and Alaric before they went thought everything they did. I'm really excited to write for Rachel. I basically wrote this entire thing to have a scene with Stefan and Rachel...just get ready. Creepier than Tyler and Amelia's little thing...which will amount to nothing I warn you.**

 **Thank you sooooooo much for the reviews. The feedback that I'm getting from this is beyond my wildest dreams. Hope you enjoyed it.**

 **REVIEW**


	5. Remembering and Returning

Rachel stocked into her sister's room with her back straight, hair in perfect curls, and her head held high, like she always was.

She smiled to her younger sister, "Hey sis, still accident prone as ever."

Aria sniffled and pushed herself up, "Rach, mom and dad recruited you?"

"Forcefully and without mercy." Rachel grinned. "Why did you insist on them coming? You're a big girl now, you can handle yourself," She raised an eyebrow. "Or you have to learn to."

Her eyes widened. "Look, they came on their own-"

"Remember when I got that concussion in New Orleans? I didn't insist on having mommy and daddy come and save me. I handled myself. So stop being a wimp and deal with it." Rachel lectured cruelly.

Aria glared at her. "And here I was hoping Grad School matured you."

Rachel tensed. "I guess not."

"A-hole." Aria called after her as she walked out.

"B****." Rachel returned with venom. She turned and sighed.

Out in the hall a group of people were gathered, talking very solemnly. As therapy for her, Rachel tended to hit on every guy she comes in contact with. She glanced over and set her sights on a tall man with curly light brown hair. He certainly handsome and well in her range of sight.

She "accidently" dropped her purse as she moved passed him. He reached down as well and their hands touched. "Sorry," she said sweetly, looking up to meet his green eyes. "Thank you…"

Suddenly Hot Guy's face changed.

Rachel gasped. She was no longer in the white washed walls of a depressing hospital, but standing next a pond. It was nighttime now. Lights shown in the huge mansion behind and a girl stood on the shore line. Her eyes were rimmed with red and she sniffling quietly.

 _"Hey."_ From behind Hot Guy from the hospital said. He was in a tux with his hands stuffed in his pocket.

The Blonde Chick turned and whipped quickly at her eyes. " _Hey,"_ she half laughed, " _How you doing?"_

He sighed, burrowing his hands deeper into his pants. " _I…I don't really know,"_ He looked sad and tired, and much older than he was physically. _"I can't really believe it."_

" _Me neither."_ She responded, studying her shoes.

He coughed. " _I think this is worse than them being dead."_

The girl's head shot up and she met his eyes. _"Why would you say that?"_

Hot Guy continued. _"If they were dead we could get them back."_ He gave a short laugh. _"I guess that says something about our lives, doesn't it?"_

His friend nodded slowly. _"I don't think you're mad about that. You never wanted this life, you always wanted to be human, and Damon never did. So you're jealous."_ she decided. " _He got the life you dreamed of with Elena. And all you got was this never ending cycle of good and evil and high school."_

Rachel's eyes widened. Damon and Elena? This random guy in this random town couldn't be speaking so cryptically about her parents, could he?

He chuckled. _"Remember when he compelled you to sleep with him."_

Blonde Chick wrinkled her nose at the thought. _"You have no idea how long it took to get the stench of Damon off of me."_

He smiled. She laughed.

 _"Stefan?"_ Stefan? But that was Peter's middle name. _"You know why they had to leave."_

The man bit his lip. _"If anyone outside our circle finds out they both will be hunted to get the cure."_ he sighed. _"And they don't deserve this life. They need a chance to start over."_

 _"Who knows, maybe in a few years you'll be an uncle."_

 _"If that happens, I want them to stay away. Jo and Alaric have the right idea about not raising their kids in this town. As much as I want to always be in their lives, I don't think that's in the cards right now."_ He ran a hand through his hair.

 _"Will we ever see them again?"_ She asked quietly.

 _"If all goes well, no."_ He choked on his laughter. _"I don't want to say they'll be breakable as humans, because we all know through Jeremy and Matt that that doesn't make much of a difference, but they'll be vunerable. Them leaving means no contact whatsoever, and I think that's for the best."_

She tilted her head to gain a better looked of his. " _How are you doing?"_

 _"I'm fine."_

 _"Damon was your brother and Elena was your best friend_." When he opened his mouth she continued. _"Don't try to deny it. I know that you still love her. But I think that the two of you are happier loving each other like a brother and sister. It just seems more right._ "

She smiled at him. "So y _ou're not fine. Elena was my best friend and I could hardly tolerate Damon but I still miss him." She glanced at him quickly. "Don't tell him I said that." Stefan smiled. "And I know that the only reason why you are not a blood thirsty ripper right now is because they made us swear not to go emotionless."_

He glanced at her. " _Right as always. Caroline, I…"_

His eyes softened from their shielded secrets. _"I love you. And seeing them leave, I realized that there is more to living than surviving. Ever since Elena and I broke up, I've been surviving. But when I'm with you…"_

Over the time Rachel had been watching the pair they had subconsciously moved closer to each other. She could tell they were comfortable with each other and she had know within a few seconds they loved each other.

 _"I know_ ," He took her hands. _"You have a lot of things going on after your mom…and the emotionless rampage. And I know being around me probably doesn't help-"_

 _"No."_ Caroline interrupted him. _"It actually helps, gives me a center. I need you."_

They kissed passionately under the stars.

When they broke away, Stefan swept his hand across the silhouette of the glowing house in the distance. " _I think we need to get away from this town."_

Caroline nodded grimly. _"We should help deal with Lily and then get out of here. People are starting to noticed we are getting any older. Bonnie told me she's leaving, thinks there isn't anything left for her here. Tyler and Liv have reconciled. I think Matt is would actually be grateful if we go. He's not trying very hard to hide that his first priority is humans. He's only helping us for Elena."_

Stefan sighed. _"I'm glad he is, though, just working for the humans. He keeps us grounded. Everything's falling together isn't it?"_

 _"I don't know whether to be happy or sad."_

 _"Maybe a little bit of both."_ He took her hand and smiled as the memory faded out of her mind and she was stuck completely blank.

"What the hell Stefan?!" Caroline yelled.

"I didn't do anything, she just collapsed." He snapped.

"Would you two stop your stupid lovers spat for ten seconds?" Alaric asked.

He had grabbed the two vampires' by the collar and dragged them into an empty room the moment they started making a fuss. They were fine in public most of the time but when they caused a scene people tended to notice the Forbes girl and the Salvatore boy that ran away from Mystic Falls 25 years ago and looked exactly the same.

"It's obvious that this women has the same problem the one Tyler found does." He continued.

"The nurses records say that she was visiting our mystery girl. They're apparently sisters." Jo explained irritably.

Meredith came in. "Concussion, just a concussion."

"From the fall?" Alaric said.

"No, " she shook her head. "It's the strangest concussion that I have ever seen. There is no sign of impact. It's like the bruise just erupted in her brain. Rachel will probably be fine, but I think her body, and her sister's, were trying to fight off the unknown species, Tyler and Stefan."

"But Tyler isn't a supernatural." Caroline pointed out, taking Aria's file.

"He still has the werewolf gene." Alaric said. "And according to Tyler her seizure was much shorter than Rachel's."

"This isn't a solution, or a reason why this is happening." Caroline said.

"That's the best we can do." Meredith heaved a sigh.

 **Next Day**

Damon walked up to the doorstep, staring at the huge house that he had once called home. It had worn down after the years. He assumed that, judging on the condition on the place, Stefan had skipped town after Damon and Elena were gone.

They couldn't contact each other. Stefan could have been used to find the two of them and then someone would have taken the cure, putting Damon and Elena in danger.

There were so many times when Damon and Elena thought about telling their kids about their heritage. When the children were little it was all about their parent's history being too dark. Now it was about them not having to bear that responsibility and for them being able to live their life normally.

When they were younger, Damon told them ghost stories about vampires, weaving truth into the myths about them. He added vervain and white oak stakes, telling them about the Originals, but passing it off as fiction. They wouldn't sleep alone for weeks after, though. Elena was pissed.

Damon and Elena made sure they were protected, never directly stating someone could come into their home. Each kid had a bracelet or a necklace with vervain and Elena made "special" tea.

Aria had had her heart set on Whitmore, something neither parent expected to be a coincidence. She found a flyer on the street and started researching the college, falling in love with Virginia, not knowing she was meant to grow up there, that her parents were born there.

And then she got into a stupid accident the universe wanted to happen.

So now, after raising their kids right, they still ended up back. Damon was standing at the door step that he said goodbye to 25 years ago, the door of the Salvatore Boarding House.

On impulse he knocked. In the back of his mind he wondered who the house belonged to on the deed, Matt, Bonnie? Probably one of the humans that still lived in Mystic Falls.

Bonnie opened the door and his face split into a grin. She barely spared him a glance, not really looking at him, she was too preoccupied with someone in the left hall.

"Just a sec." She walked back inside to look down the hallway. "What the hell are you two doing, get back to your room." There was some giggling. Her eyes widened. "But your room is that way." Bonnie pointed to the right side of the corridor. "Are you going to do it in Damon's room?" She asked incredulously.

"No they're not!" Damon said, a smile permanently plastered on his face that he resisted in vain as he attempted to look intimidating.

She turned, gazing up at his withered face, worry lines added from raising four reckless kids. Bonnie as well had changed. Her hair was to her shoulders and curled elegantly. She wasn't as pretty as she once was, she looked worn and older, but good for her age.

The look on her face when their eyes met, former best friends meeting for the first time in years. They each took in the other before Bonnie cracked, beamed, and ran into him.

"Damon?" Stefan stood in the hall, shirtless, with Caroline next to him in an over sized dress shirt belonging to her boyfriend. It was obvious that they had been on the middle of something.

Bonnie pulled away to reveal Stefan and Caroline staring shocked at Damon. They, or course, looked exactly the same as they did when Damon and Elena left all those years ago.

"Damon?" Caroline asked, dumbfounded and confused.

He nodded, eyes locked with his long lost little brother. "Hello brother."

 **Woohoo! I'm back baby!**

 **You know I have a new found respect for authors that manage to update on a regular basis. How the heck do you do it? Also I have discovered how freakin difficult it is to write without plot hols, specially because ideas tend to just pop into by head random places and I can't remember if I typed and backed it up or mentioned it correctly, so certain things, like Rachel's concussion in New Orleans, I might have mentioned before but I'm not sure so I wrote it again just to be safe.**

 **Another thing, I think it was last chapter that Aria had the internal bleeding. There was kind of an unclear plot hole there. Meredith and Jo gave her the blood because they wanted to be sure that she would be okay, esspecially because of her reaction to Tyler and Jo. They gave her the blood because they didn't know who the heck she was an the operation might have back fired due to allergies or something like that. When she rejected the blood they put her in operation and everything went okay despite the lack of vampire blood. Also, I'm assuming that Aria might have been in a car accident before, so she knows the feeling of internal bleeding in her organs, but that won't be explored into meaning anything. And her mother is a doctor or a nurse or something. She was probably taught when she was little what to do if something were ever to happen to her like that, not to mention Damon and Elena seem like pretty paranoid parents. So I hope that cleared it up.**

 **More from the kids and everyone else next chapter.**

 **Hope I did it justice for such a long hiatus, which I'm sorry for.**


	6. Author's Note

p style="text-indent: 48px;"strongAuthor's Note:/strong God, I really hate it when a writer does this to me, but it's necessary right now. When I started writing this it was because I couldn't find anyone of this kind and thought it was important to get it out there. My OCs in this are really close to my heart, but I have discovered that I have written myself into a hole and have a severe case of writer's block. I don't think this is fair for the people who read this. I hate it when I'm reading so I know you hate it. Normally you'd expect me to put this up for adoption, but this story is very important to me and I'm not ready to give it up just yet. I have also experienced situations where I started reading a story and imagining the end, but the plot goes in a completely different way than I wanted it to./p  
p style="text-indent: 48px;"This is why I am asking anyone who wants to give their opinion on a plot for the continuation of the story to comment or message me personally. Your opinions, good or bad, really make my day because it means someone cares. I will sift through whatever response I get and maybe the plot point will show up or maybe it will give me inspiration, either way you will get a huge acknowledgement and thanks. I feel so guilty that I left you all hanging. If you have a suggestion just tell me./p  
p style="text-indent: 48px;"Thanks/p  
p style="text-indent: 48px;"Lizzy/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;" /p 


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